- The learning process
The upper part of Exhibit 5 diagrams the relationships among the Piagetian version of psychological
constructivist learning. Note that the model of learning in the Exhibit is rather “individualistic”, in the sense that it
does not say much about how other people involved with the learner might assist in assimilating or accommodating
information. Parents and teachers, it would seem, are left lingering on the sidelines, with few significant
responsibilities for helping learners to construct knowledge. But the Piagetian picture does nonetheless imply a role
for helpful others: someone, after all, has to tell or model the vocabulary needed to talk about and compare birds
from airplanes and butterflies! Piaget did recognize the importance of helpful others in his writings and theorizing,
calling the process of support or assistance social transmission. But he did not emphasize this aspect of
constructivism. Piaget was more interested in what children and youth could figure out on their own, so to speak,
than in how teachers or parents might be able to help the young to figure out (Salkind, 2004). Partly for this reason,
his theory is often considered less about learning and more about development, which is long-term change in a
person resulting from multiple experiences. For the same reason, educators have often found Piaget’s ideas
especially helpful for thinking about students’ readiness to learn, another one of the lasting educational issues that
I discussed at the beginning of this chapter. I will therefore return to Piaget later to discuss development and its
importance for teaching in more detail.
Learning According to Piaget:Assimilation + Accommodation → Equilibrium → Schemata
Learning According to Vygotsky:Novice →Zone of Proximal Development← Expert(ZPD)Exhibit 5: Constructivist models of learningSocial Constructivism: assisted performance
Unlike Piaget’s rather individually oriented version of constructivism, some psychologists and educators have
explicitly focused on the relationships and interactions between a learner and more knowledgeable and experienced
individuals. One early expression of this viewpoint came from the American psychologist Jerome Bruner (1960,
1966, 1996), who became convinced that students could usually learn more than had been traditionally expected as
long as they were given appropriate guidance and resources. He called such support instructional scaffolding—
literally meaning a temporary framework, like one used in constructing a building, that allows a much stronger
structure to be built within it. In a comment that has been quoted widely (and sometimes disputed), he wrote: “We
[constructivist educators] begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually
honest form to any child at any stage of development.” (1960, p. 33). The reason for such a bold assertion was
Bruner’s belief in scaffolding—his belief in the importance of providing guidance in the right way and at the right
time. When scaffolding is provided, students seem more competent and “intelligent,” and they learn more.
Similar ideas were proposed independently by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1978), whose writing
focused on how a child’s or novice’s thinking is influenced by relationships with others who are more capable,